Miriam and I (Chris) were guests on another awesome Keto podcast a while ago and it was posted yesterday: Interview with Chris and Miriam Bair Keto Chow
I should have posted about this yesterday but ran out of time with everything going on (live broadcast, replacing the fat in my Keto Chow with candy for an experiment, finalizing packaging for Keto Chow 2.1)
https://youtu.be/w_MnfN8KWp4
OK, here we go!
You can view my glucose tests as I take them on the “Sugar” tab of the spreadsheet here.
So yesterday was my first day doing Coconut Oil, the package of the one I was using said “93% MCTs” so I should have seen this coming. About 20 minutes after I drank my first one I felt a bit weird and dizzy… and ran to the bathroom. Second One a few hours later was kinda the same story. The third one last night I felt really dizzy, so much so that I had to sit on the sofa instead of playing Munchkin which made Levi really sad.
So today I’m switching to a different liquid coconut oil: Carrington Farms. I’ve used it in the past and didn’t have any gastrointestinal issues. I’m hoping that it works well. I ran to my local “Walmart Neighborhood Market” this morning not knowing if they would have it, turns out they had 3 different brands of liquid coconut oil! That was unexpected. Anyhow, if this doesn’t work I’ll switch to using less coconut oil and some heavy cream since this week is all about saturated fat.
Huh, I’ve been doing this experiment for 4 weeks now. That’s funny, I hadn’t even realized that until I started this post and wrote down what day it was. It seems that the previous 4 week experiment I did was WAY harder to do, maybe because I wasn’t chewing gum or drinking diet soda. Last night I mixed up the final 3 meals with Macadamia Nut Oil and also mixed up tomorrow’s Coconut Oil ones. I’m really looking forward to switching!
Only eating Keto Chow for this experiment hasn’t been terribly difficult aside from the social aspect. I was at the store today buying food and such for my family (without a dishwasher and with the kitchen under construction, we go through a lot of paper plates and such… we also go through a 5lb bag of shredded cheese a week it seems). Anyhow, I passed by the frozen chicken wings and was a little sad that I wasn’t going to be making any chicken wings for the Superb Owl get together we’ll be having this Sunday – you know, the one where everybody watches a bunch of rather funny advertisements with some football sprinkled between? We’ve kinda made it a family tradition with my parents, and often my brother, coming over. We have a bunch of amazing snacks, predominantly keto ones for the last 2 years, and have fun. This year my dad and I are both only eating Keto Chow and we’re the only ones that eat the wings, so none of those this year. I think one of my kids is going to try making Keto Peanut Butter Bars – I might help her a bit =)
I’m on my second-to-last day of macadamia nut oil. I need to mix up 3 meals worth for tomorrow and then it’s time for coconut oil! woohoo! The experiment is still going well, haven’t had any problems at all in the last while. My tooth still hurts from getting a crown, though not as bad – so it’s still a good thing that I’m doing a liquid diet. My wife finished up the 4 week Keto Chow only experiment she was doing last Friday so she’s been making meals from Maria Emmerich’s 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse – yesterday it was pork chops, they did indeed smell good but I soldiered on and drank my macadamia nut oil… I mean Keto Chow (that tastes like macadamia nut oil).
Today we got a bunch of blood test results back. You can see my results for this current experiment by visiting the results spreadsheet on the “Chris” tab in columns N-S. It’s interesting to compare Heavy Cream to Grape Seed Oil to Heavy Cream. My LDL came back up and so did my fasting insulin.
I put together the packaging we’ll be using for the “Sample The NEW Things!” bundle, check it out:
I recorded a podcast yesterday, won’t be out for a few weeks though. Today I’ve been working to get things lined up for Keto Chow 2.1 which is now even more imperative as Chocolate Peanut Butter and Cookies & Cream 2.0.2 are out of stock and won’t be resupplied until 2.1 comes out.
Really quick update, not much to report other than that the Macadamia nut oil has a VERY strong flavor. Would not recommend using it to anyone but it’s what I’m doing and I have another 5 days of it. So goes life.
Yesterday afternoon I went to San Francisco. I was running a little late, made it to the gate just in time for boarding (I actually ran a lot of the way with a big backpack and roll display)… and just as I got there, my phone buzzed to let me know that the plane was delayed due to weather. Instead of leaving at 3, we left at 4:30. So I relaxed for a bit… and was nearly an hour late for the event I was going to SF for. That sucked.
I was able to mix up a 4 meal pitcher of Vanilla, Salted, Caramel, and Chocolate with heavy cream (that I brought in my bags) plus another pitcher with avocado oil. I got to talk to a few people, it might have been worth it, dunno yet. Funnily, the people that tried the samples the most and that I talked to the most were the other vendors. I kept getting “Wow, this actually tastes really good!” Shouldn’t be so surprised but I’ll accept it as a compliment =) I packed everything back up and took BART back to the airport, where I proceeded to wait from 10 pm to 4 am so I could check my bags and get to the gate for my 6 am flight.
I’m really quite tired. I slept for about 30 minutes around 11 pm and for about 2 hours between 2 and 4. Got back home at 10 am, took a shower and checked my ketones. As I mentioned yesterday, instead of dealing with bringing food I just ate all 3 meals before I left and fasted until I got home. When I checked my levels I was at 3.5 mmol/dL – that’s pretty high for doing heavy cream!
Anyway, I’m here at work, just like I was 24 hours ago, waiting for the USPS truck to come and pick up the mail, wishing I was asleep but I have too much to do and my brain is on so I wouldn’t be able to anyway (plus our bedroom is getting holes in the drywall sanded right now and everything is covered by sheets so I couldn’t sleep there if I wanted to (which I do).
I’m heading off to San Francisco in a few hours. Rather than worry about how to transport my shakes, I’m just going to do time-restricted feeding (“intermittent fasting”) by drinking all my meals this morning and afternoon, then I’ll eat again after I get home tomorrow. I had to bring everything I need with me to work, including an umbrella. Fun fact: I’ve been to San Francisco almost 10 times now, I’ve never been rained on (misted on, yes, but no rain) looking at the forecast, this might break that streak.
This morning I got back my blood tests from the week of doing Grape Seed Oil. Feel free to head over to the spreadsheet of results and check them out. Grapeseed oil is on Column O.
Let’s see… my LDL-P came way down (1242 to 849) – into the “normal” range thanks to the PUFAs, my LDL-C also came down (116 to 72) – again into the “normal” range. My triglycerides did indeed go up, though nowhere even close to the result I got with avocado oil in November: that one went from 113 to 199, this new test with grape seed oil went from 104 to 117. I guess we’ll see what happens with the subsequent tests with Saturated and MUFA: will the triglycerides go down or not?! While you’re on the spreadsheet, you can pop over to the other tabs and see the ongoing results coming in from the n=3 experiment that’s also going on. Both females have had really stable triglyceride levels, regardless of heavy cream or avocado oil. Makes me wonder if the 199 was a freak aberration (yes I was fasting at least 12 hours before the test).
So what else does the blood test show? On PUFAs my cortisol increased dramatically (9.8 to 12.7) and my fasting insulin predictably went down to 2.4. That’s actually the lowest I’ve ever gotten, 2.7 was the level when I did Avocado Oil. Oddly, my CRP (which along with cortisol is a marker for inflammation) was slightly up but still far lower compared to what I was getting in November.
Looks like I have a mustache =)
Day 18 of my experiment. Hey, let’s talk about weight loss! I started this experiment on January 5th and I’m currently (as of this morning) down 14.7 lbs. Some of that is due to me eating a bit more than normal right before the experiment to fit in a few more yummy foods before I stopped eating, and some is from Christmas/New Years; but I currently weigh less than I did when I finished my December experiment. I’ll call that definitive progress =). My ketones are most definitely lower doing heavy cream compared to just oil: around 1.3-1.5 compared to up in the 3’s. That’s not a problem but it is interesting.
I noticed something yesterday when I was getting out of the shower: My back wasn’t sore and neither were my arms. That’s odd because the day before (Saturday) I spent around 3 hours shoveling over a foot of snow and typically I’d expect to be exceptionally sore. Kinda weird.
This week I’m gearing up to go to San Francisco for an event we’re sponsoring on Wednesday. It’ll be rather interesting: I’ll fly there, set up a table and hand out samples, and then head back to the airport. I’ll have maybe 5 hours before my flight so I don’t want to go through the hassle of getting a room so I’ll just camp out in the airport and try to get some sleep on the chairs, maybe watch some “Flash”.
The content of this website is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader. If you are on any medication, please consult with your family doctor before starting any new eating plan. Keto Chow is not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease. Pregnant or breast feeding women should consult their health care professional before consuming.
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